“Today Rep. Patrick Murphy is introducing a new standalone bill to to allow for repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ and I am proud to join him as the lead co-sponsor,” said Hoyer, who is co-sponsoring the proposal. “As Secretary Gates and others have stressed, it is critical that Congress pass this legislation, empowering the Defense Department to implement repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ itself, rather than have repeal imposed by the Courts.”

The House already passed a bipartisan defense spending bill in May that included a DADT repeal measure, but it has stalled in the Senate. Advocates for repeal hope that it will receive the support needed in the Senate now that it is not tied to another bill.

The Pentagon released a year-long report in November showing that nearly 70 percent of military servicemen had indicated that working with openly gay colleagues would have either a positive, mixed or nonexistent impact on their ability to do their jobs. A full 60 percent of combat Marines, however, said the change would have a negative impact.

Democratic leaders in both chambers have suggested that they are open to keeping Congress in session through the weekend before Christmas to vote on the bill.

A previous(I think THE previous) spending bill created something called the “Military Leadership Diversity Commission”… this commission has called for getting rid of all “gender restrictive policies” AKA getting rid of restrictions on women in combat. Why is this not getting reported anywhere?